11.03.2024
Source: Energy & Management Powernews
In 2023, renewables accounted for more of the German energy mix for electricity, heat and transport than ever before. This was reported by a department of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA).
The 22% share of renewable energies in German energy consumption in 2023 is a new record. In 2022, it was only 20.8 percent. The figures come from the Working Group on Renewable Energy Statistics (AGEE-Stat), whose office is based at the Federal Environment Agency. AGEE-Stat reports on the use of renewable energies on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection (BMWK).
The main reason for the positive development was the growth in renewable generation in the electricity and heating sectors, while demand for energy fell overall in all sectors. At 272 billion kWh, more renewable electricity was generated in Germany in 2023 than ever before (+7% compared to 2022 with 255 billion kWh). At the same time as overall electricity consumption decreased (-5% compared to 2022) for economic reasons, the share of renewable energies in gross electricity consumption rose to a new record of 51.8%.
Growth in renewable electricity generation
The main drivers of this development were electricity production from wind energy and photovoltaics, which provided three quarters of green electricity. In the case of wind energy, good weather conditions and the addition of 3,028 MW contributed to a 14% increase in electricity generation to a total of 142 billion kWh (2022: 125 billion kWh). For the first time, wind turbines generated more electricity than lignite and hard coal-fired power plants combined in 2023.
In the photovoltaic (PV) sector, average weather conditions were offset by a strong increase in the number of installations, according to the report. Overall, the capacity of the PV plant fleet increased by 22% compared to 2022 (+14,595 MW). As a result, solar power generation increased slightly to 61.2 billion kWh (2022: 60.3 billion kWh). According to the report, the expansion of photovoltaics is therefore on track to achieve the climate protection targets. However, the expansion of wind energy plants on land and at sea must be significantly increased.
In addition, above-average precipitation led to an increase of 11% in electricity generation from hydropower. In contrast, electricity generation from biomass fell by around 5 percent compared to the previous year. The amount of electricity generated from geothermal energy remained at a low 200 million kWh in 2023.
Biomass dominates renewable heat
With a share of 83% (170.6 billion kWh), biomass continued to be the most important renewable heat source in 2023, followed by 25.7 billion kWh from geothermal energy and environmental heat (especially heat pumps) with 12.5%. While biomass was at a similar level to the previous year (2022: 171.9 TWh), the heat harnessed by heat pumps (geothermal and environmental heat) increased significantly by 18.3%. The sharp rise in heat pump sales was noticeable here.
The share of solar thermal energy was around 4.4% at 9.1 billion kWh, just below the previous year's figure (2022: 4.8%), which is likely due to the relatively poor weather compared to the record solar year of 2022. The total amount of renewable heat generated rose by only 2.2 billion kWh compared to the previous year.
However, as the overall demand for heat fell at the same time due to the mild weather and weak economy (-6% compared to 2022), the share of renewable energy sources rose to 18.8% (2022: 17.5%).
Transport sector benefits from electrification
The share of renewable energy in the transport sector rose by 1% to 7.3%. In 2023, around 2% more biofuels were used than in the previous year, totaling 35 billion kWh. They therefore account for almost 82% of renewable energy consumption in the transport sector.
Higher electricity consumption - primarily due to a significant increase of 1.2 billion kWh in road transport - combined with a higher share of renewable energy in the electricity mix also led to a significant increase in the calculated consumption of renewable electricity in the transport sector: Compared to the previous year, the consumption of green electricity in the transport sector rose by 21 percent to almost 8 billion kWh.
In total, the use of renewable energy instead of fossil fuels avoided the emission of around 250 million tons of CO2 equivalents in 2023.
Time series on the development of renewable energies are available on the internet.
Author: Susanne Harmsen
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